The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-06-01
Scraps for the Household Basket.
ny L. h, b., FAIRvALE.

Hiu sung COne, SeDIle spring,
ETHEREAL mildness, come!' until | was
hoarse, but no "etherial mildness "
came at my call; and l had almost
become reconciled to furs and fan
nels for the rest of the year, when
10! spring is herel Dame Nature
has donned her new spring suit, and
her old face looks as fresh and I'M
wrinkled as that of the little maid who
gaily trips over the fields in quest of
flowers. The baImy air exhilarates
like wine and sets all the poets singing,
as well as the frogs.
Mr.. Editor, l think you could forgive,
if you could not tolerate, few " odes
to spring" if you were out with me to-
day under the clear, blue sky, with the
budding trees overhead and a grassy
carpet beneath your feet, while the
very air l breathe is balm. But with
all the surfeit of beauty upon and
around us the busy housewife has to
almost steal the time if she enjoys
much of the loneliness about her. 1t
is all very well to sing "Come to the
Woods" as does the sweet poetess
whom the last WATCHMAN quotes, but
it is quite another thing to find the
time for forest rambles just now. If
the spring cleaning is finished there is,
in the ordinary farmers household,
mountains of sewing to be done by
somebody. And, by the way, there is
deal of arrant nonsense written about
this same housekeeping business. AL
most every paper L have read in the
last six weeks has had one or more ar
ticles about it. The only things that
the different authorities seem to agree
about are these " You must do but
one room in day, take it very leisurely
and never OrerdO! There may be an
occasional farmers wife who can fol-
low these rules and not have her house.
cleaning last the year round, but she
is the exception and not the rule. In
most families there is plenty of other
work crowding close on the heels of
housekeeping, just as much needing
to be done as that indispensable work;
and if the ordinary housework takes up
nearly all the time when so big an ex-
ira as house cleaning comes somebody
has got to 'push things" even if they
do get overdone for the time. Hire
help enough so you won't need to get
overdone," says one. Very easy to
advise, but not always practicable. AT
times we cannot procure help for love
nor money, and when the help is forth
coming the money is not always pres
ent factor in the case. When there
are carpets to be taken up and white
washing to be done it always seems to
me advisable to take as many rooms in
a day as possible when the men folks
can attend to these necessary jobs.
Then time and patience would both
fail in this "one-room-a-day bust
ness. However, fancy each house
wife can arrange her household work
to her household needs better than an
outside looker-on can do it for her.
Circumstances vary in different fam
lilies, and the work must be arranged to
suit those varying circumstances,
whether it suits the outside looker-on
or not.
Driftwood," in the WATCHMAN of
May 18th, speaks of the many inven-
tons to tighten woman's labors, and
among them she mentions the self
wringing mop. Her experience with
that article must have been different
from mine if she can recommend it as
a labor-sacer. When 1 bought mine of
the smooth-tongued agent / really sup
posed that | was buying a respite from
the most disagreeable part of hopping;
but | soon learned, to my disgust, that
1t required more strength to help the
mop wiring itself than it did to wiring it
in the ordinary way, and then it did
not wiring dry. If any one wants self
wringing mop here is a chance to buy
one cheap. Warranted not to give salts
faction. (No charge for this advertise
ment, Mr.. Agent.) give an unquali-
fed approval of all the other helps she
mentions.
And now if some wise inventor can
contrive machine that will think and
reason, and so keep the household ma
chinery running in good order, there is
a gold mine waiting for him. 1t would
probably cost more than a moving
machine and self-binding reaper, but
every farmer would buy one. 1t might
partially supersede the necessity of
wives. 1t would not wear out so soon,
perhaps, and might not cost as much
for repairs. Where's Edison?
REMARKs.-The editor is at loss TO
conjecture how the impression GOT